Jose Barron scored in the 28th minute of Santa Barbara’s season opening match against Agoura. Barron’s strike was the game’s lone goal as the Dons defense held on to a shutout.
“We’re a young team but I thought our defense played really well,” head coach Todd Heil said. “[Center backs] Peter Gamboa and Jelan Hutton were absolutely incredible.
The Dons are coming off a historic season in which they were runners up in CIF Southern Section Division I and went on to win the CIF State Regional Division II title.
However, many players from last year’s team have graduated and a large group of juniors are left to continue Santa Barbara’s legacy.
“My expectations were zero,” Heil said. “After the last couple years and graduating as many players as we did, we knew it was going to be a feeling out process.”
The Dons took the first necessary step towards another storybook season with a win in their first meeting with Agoura in Heil’s tenure as coach.
Santa Barbara (1-0) plays next at the Palmdale Invitational on Friday.
